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Multi-resistant bacteria

Original Title: Bactéries multi-résistantes

Author: Mario Masson

Director: Jeannita Richard

Editor: André Van Damme

Sound: Jean-Grégoire, Jean-Denis Daoust

Production: Société Radio-Canada

Canada

21 min.

2001

Enterococcus, staphylococcus, e-coli, streptococcus, salmonella, meningococcus… in just a few years, all these bacteria have developed a resistance to an increasing number of antibiotics including vancomycin, the last line of antibiotic defense. In all, millions of infections and thousands dead in North America. That is why the medical profession has sounded the alarm.
Does this multiple resistance foretell a return to the Middle Ages when there were no medicines to combat infections? Is the game up for the human race? Or, in fact, do we have reasons for being optimistic?
Discovery, weekly magazine broadcast looking at natural phenomena, went to see what is going on in laboratories and in hospitals. It has found that preparations to counter this attack are in hand everywhere and that, sometimes, they are quite revolutionary. But we cannot expect results overnight.